Facts are many, but the truth is one. If you shut your door to all errors truth will be shut out.

29 July, 2009

More mystery to Teoh's death ?

PETALING JAYA - DAP party supremo Lim Kit Siang has fired another salvo at the MACC.

In a media statement today, the MP for Ipoh Timor, challenged the MACC to submit itself to a public inquiry to establish that it is not in any way responsible for the “black blog” set up in the past week to defame DAP Selangor excos with lies, half-truths and doctored documents.

He said suspicions abound as to who are behind the anonymous “black blog” which appeared recently to defame the DAP excos , in particular Ronnie Liu and Ean Yong Hian Wah, accusing them of corrupt practices based on lies and doctored documents

“If those behind the ‘black blog’ are honest and honourable people, why are they so cowardly as to have to hide under anonymity,” he questioned.

According to Kit Siang, one likely suspect would be the MACC or MACC officers, who are doing this to deflect public outrage over the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock at the MACC headquarters on July 16, 2009.

As Prof. Dr Shad Faruqi of the of the Faculty of Law, UiTM wrote in the Star “Ferreting out the Facts” today, many questions cry out for answers about Teoh’s mysterious death at MACC, including:

Was Teoh already dead when he fell 10 floors?

“After Teoh was released, did he make any telephone calls which could give some pointers to the time of his death? Was his handphone seized? Was his handphone tampered with? Were the injuries on his body the result of the fall or of prior abuse by himself or by others?

“Did he die because of the fall or was he already dead when his body plunged to the floor below? Did no one hear the sickening thud of his body falling nearly 10 floors?”

Kit Siang added that there are other questions: “Was Teoh released by MACC as claimed at 3.45am on July 16? If so, why was Teoh’s handphone still detained by MACC when Teoh is only a witness and not a suspect?

“If Teoh’s handphone was still in the custody of MACC, isn’t this proof that Teoh was still in the custody of MACC? Does that not mean that Teoh was in the custody of MACC when he met his death, either before or after the plunge from MACC’s 14th floor?”

These and many other questions demand answers which the public have only confidence if they are probed by a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

'Royal Commission would be most appropriate'

Kit Siang said that Shad Faruqi had been exploited by the Barisan Nasional mainstream media a few days ago to support the contention of Attorney-General Gani Patail that an inquest is a “must” for probing the causes of Teoh’s death.

“I am glad Shad Faruqi has come out with a strong article to disabuse the Malaysian public of such a misperception in his Star column today, where he dismissed the Attorney-General’s contention against a Royal Commission of Inquiry as ‘not convincing’ and supported the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.”

Shad Faruqi had said: “On the peculiar facts of this case, a commission would have been most appropriate because of the legitimate expectations of the people created by assurances and proposals from many top politicians.

“Commission personnel are generally very high ranking and may arouse greater confidence than a junior judicial officer whether a magistrate or a sessions judge.

“This is not to imply, however, that magistrates cannot do justice or act impartially. There are many excellent subordinate court judges and their judicial conduct is often of higher quality than that of many superior court judges.

Justice must be seen to be done

“What is crucial is that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done. Public scepticism is acute because despite considerable passage of time, no decisive evidence seems to have emerged.”

Lim added that there is a major conspiracy to deflect public outrage at Teoh’s mysterious death at MACC and the refusal of the prime minister and the cabinet to heed family and public demands to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to get to the bottom of the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death.

“One such tactic was to turn Teoh’s death into a racial issue, with a ‘thief shout thief’ twist by alleging that the public outrage was an attack on a Malay or Malay-controlled institution - the MACC.

“In actual fact, public outrage at Teoh’s mysterious death directed at MACC had nothing to do with race as nobody regarded MACC as a Malay or Malay-controlled institution. Criticisms and demands for accountability from MACC are solely on the basis that MACC is a Malaysian institution!

“Another tactic is to accuse Teoh of unspeakable crimes, which is most disgraceful on the part of the mass media and internet sites concerned,” Kit Siang concluded.